TAGBILARAN CITY--Fighting the New People's Army here is not an easytask, with residents actively supporting the insurgents.The Philippine National Police and the military learned this as theylaunched yesterday a province-wide operation to rescue two hostages andrecover at least 80 high-powered firearms seized by the rebels inFriday's raid in Batuan town.

As of yesterday noon, soldiers and policemen had yet to find the NPArebels who attacked the camp of the Seventh Regional Mobile Police-Combat Support Co. in Barangay Rizal, Batuan, 60 km from this capital.

The rebels were believed to have fled to the hinterlands of Bohol.

Deputy Director Gen. Edmundo Larroza, acting PNP chief, said the policecamp was surrounded by residents already ''hostile to the government.''

''They gave the rebels good intelligence (information) about thecamp,'' he told the Inquirer. ''They actually support them.''

He said the empty cans of sardines and stale puso (rice wrapped incoconut leaves) found by the police near the camp indicated that someresidents knew of the rebels' presence beforehand but did not reportthe information to the police.

The raid was the biggest and most daring operation conducted by therebels since peace negotiations between the rebels and the governmentwere terminated last month.

DefectionPolice and military officials agreed that the recent defection ofBatuan Vice Mayor Jaime Decasa was a major boost to the insurgents.

But Senior Insp. Diones Ejoc, the Batuan police chief, said Decasa iswell-loved by at least 80 percent of Batuan residents.

The vice mayor apparently joined the rebels in March 22, after he wasaccused of involvement in killing a supporter of a rival candidate.

Decasa comes from a prominent political family in Batuan. His great-grandfather was instrumental in having Batuan raised to the status of atown. His grandfather, uncles and father alternately served as townmayor.

Supt. Leonardo Espina, chief of the Criminal Investigation andDetection Group in Central Visayas, said the police had alreadyidentified some of the residents who supported the rebels.

Criminal chargesThe names of the residents will be included in the criminal chargesthat the police were set to file against the rebels for attacking thepolice camp, he added.

Supt. Mario Potot, chief of the defunct Bohol PNP task force, said thepolice had long suspected that the residents were not on their side.

He said he organized four cooperatives in April in Barangay Rizal in aneffort to win the support of the residents.

Larroza said he disbanded the Bohol PNP task force because the Army hadtaken over the task of hunting down the rebels and containinginsurgency in Bohol.

The task force was changed to a composite team of 200 soldiers from theArmy's Special Forces and two companies of PNP Special Action Forcefrom Camp Crame in Manila headed by Col. Gilbert Cayton of the ArmedForces Visayas Command.

Cayton said the team had already sealed the coastal towns of Ubay,Tubigon and Loay to prevent the rebels from escaping to Cebu ornorthern Mindanao.

Cayton said the team was also checking the numerous caves found in themountains of central Bohol.

RetrainingIn Manila, the 37 members of the combat support unit of the PNP earlierrelieved after the raid were also ordered to undergo a total retrainingprogram yesterday.

Larroza ordered the retraining after his brief visit to the police campin Bohol.

He ordered the retraining of the entire contingent of the SeventhRegional Mobile Group Combat Support Company, including its chief,Insp. Richard Caballero, while the men are being investigated by theRegional Internal Affairs Office for possible security lapses.

Larroza advised other PNP units not to let their guards down, and allPNP field commanders to review and implement their security plans.

Daring raidAccording to a report sent to Camp Crame, the rebels, clad incamouflage military uniforms, arrived at the headquarters of thecontingent at about 7:30 a.m.

The rebels rode on two Besta vans with Department of Interior and LocalGovernment markings.

One of the raiders, clad in a barong Tagalog and accompanied by threewomen and fatigue-clad men who introduced themselves as soldiers,alighted from one of the vans and requested to see the detachment'sfirst sergeant.

Upon entering the detachment, the rebels then trained their guns on thepolicemen and raided the armory where they carted away police andmilitary weapons, including an M60 light machine-gun, three M60 grenadelaunchers, a 60-mm mortar and assorted rounds of ammunition.

The rebels also took several police uniforms and three portablecommunication radios.

Before escaping, they took into their custody two policemen, PO2 ArielEspinido and PO1 Joselito Catabas.

The raiders fled towards Barangay Hanopol in Balilihan town.

Not a shot was fired during the raid. Members of the police detachmentwere left unhurt.

Romans 10:9-10"If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."